Meet GoldieBlox! Blocks Just for Girls!

I have three boys that just love to build with blocks.
The creations they make is incredible to me, their imaginations soar when they’re building. And then they play with it for hours afterwards [or until their little brother may knock it down].

Blocks are so open-ended that we’ve done many activities with them, they’re incredible for learning opportunities!

When I was a little girl, I remember playing with blocks just like they do. I have two brothers, so I was always surrounded with these ‘boy toys’. And I was never the girly girl, so it never bothered me to play with a boy’s toy.

But, honestly, most blocks you see on the market are geared for boys. You see red, yellow, blue and green blocks all the time. You see blocks to make helicopters, cars, trucks and more like that.

These were created by a young woman engineer, Debbie Sterling. A rare woman since only 11% of engineers are women.She has researched and researched how to get girls more involved in her field of work.

Like so many girls, Debbie Sterling was born an engineer…she just didn’t know it.

She’s working to inspire the next generation of female engineers through GoldieBlox – a construction toy that marries storytelling with engineering, and opens the world of STEM to girls ages 5 and up.

Watch the video to learn about the inspiration for GoldieBlox and the impact it’s making on girls and their families.

Debbie is one of the newest members of #PassionProject, an American Express ® program designed to enable, inspire and encourage people to pursue their passion projects.

With #PassionProject, American Express is supporting a new generation of makers, creators and mold-breakers tapping into vibrant web communities to identify the stories of men and women living their passions every day. Not only does American Express showcase these inspiring #PassionProjects, but Membership also enables their #PassionProject to take the next step forward thanks to the strength of the American Express network. To learn more about the members of #PassionProject and watch their stories on YouTube.

GoldieBlox offers little girls an engineering role model who is smart, curious, accessible and feminine. They’re blocks that come with a story to help young girls develop spatial skills, understand basic engineering principles and build self-confidence in problem solving. As young girls internalize and learn more effectively through storytelling, GoldieBlox marries the story of Goldie, the girl inventor who loves to build, with a construction kit.

Its absolutely adorable, and even my boys absolutely loved them!

George followed right along with the story and built the parade float with GoldieBlox and the Parade Float. He’s three, so we did it together. He loved being able to see what he was building in the story!

Henry jumped right, without the need of the story and just looked at the pictures at the end of the story to see what else he could make. This could be a core difference between boys and girls, I don’t know.

Henry and George even worked together [shocking!] to see what they could come up with!

I am just astounded at this product, I love the story concept and I’m right with Debbie and hope that more young girls will become interested in building and constructing, because it opens up so many more possibilities!

GoldieBlox launched on Kickstarter in the fall of 2012 with the goal of raising $150,000 to fund production. Within four days, the goal had been met. Amazing! In 30 days, over 5,000 supporters had contributed more than $285,000. Less than a year later, GoldieBlox made its way from Kickstarter to the aisles of America’s largest toy retailer, Toys “R”Us.

You can find more GoldieBlox products on their website. I’m excited to see what new products will be hitting the shelves in the coming year too!

How will GoldieBlox inspire a young girl in your life?

Comment to answer for a chance to win one of the GoldieBlox and the Parade Float!

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73 Comments

My two year old LOVES blocks! I think this would be a great product for her as she gets older. I loved math and science when I was younger but there’s definitely a gender gap. Maybe things like this will help!

My 7 year old daughter is a natural inventor — maybe if she had GoldieBlox to work with I would not so often be stumbling on her stash of fridge magnets, paperclips, glue, grocery bags, socks, old shoe boxes, and everything else that she can get her hands on to make her ideas come to life! (I’d like my fridge magnets back, but how can you say no to an inventor?)

As a woman engineer I would discourage any young girl from becoming an engineer because it is an absolutely miserable job for a woman but I buy my daughters similar toys to these because they teach spacial relationships and they are just fun. Knowing how things work together will help anyone be able to fix things at home (putting these together are like putting water pipes together or electrical wiring together such as a lamp) or being able to read a drawing and make something from it will help a future mother assemble a baby crib, a stroller, a trampoline on Christmas eve, or even navigating a short cut through the local Ikea store. They will enjoy these more because of the colors similar to the Friends line of Lego but these will be more practical for my 4 year old.

I am a biomedical research engineer (currently staying home), and I have been anxiously waiting for these for a while! My friend, an electrical engineer, told me about these early last year. My favorite toys were Legos and Barbie’s, and I’m thrilled to see these! My daughter would love these!!

My niece showed me the advertizement for these. My daughter LOVES legos, and I think this is the next step up. What acute set and I would love to be able to gice it to her. BTW, the shirts this company has that say “more than just a prioncess” are super cute too. Thanks for the giveaway.

As an Occupational Therapist, I am always looking for more manipulatives. i love the i dea of combining a reason (story) to build and a little bit of variety in materials for creativeness. I think both male/female builders could benefit from this combination no matter what color the blocks are! I love the giveaway as well!